After speaking with Professor Oak, Miharu walked outside to see that Cynthia was still waiting for her, leaning against the wall and looking bored. Miharu grinned.

“I thought for sure you’d abandon me by now,” commented Miharu.

Cynthia, noticing that Miharu had finally walked out, pushed against the wall to stand straight.

“I don’t get much battling done aside from training the kids,” Cynthia admitted. “I love teaching and all, but I’m not going to get any stronger if I battle beginners.”

Miharu nodded, understanding. Although she wasn’t quite as famous as Cynthia, since she did lose against the Kanto champion a few months ago, she still got challenges for battles by small amount of people who travelled through Mt. Silver. They were strong, but generally those trainers had only gone through one region, unlike Miharu who had gone through five and had actually been in an official tournament. Thinking of the tournament…

“Does Lance work here?” Miharu thought out loud. She blinked when she realized that she had been unconsciously following Cynthia to the battleground.

Cynthia, who had been walking ahead because she actually knew where everything was, turned her head back. “Hmm? Lance? Yeah, he works here. Works in the same subject as me, in fact.”

“Good,” Miharu stated. “I kind of wanted to battle him again after Almia, but since I didn’t compete in the Johto’s Elite Four challenge…”

“You couldn’t,” finished Cynthia. She shrugged. “Maybe he’d be up to it.”

“I hope so,” replied Miharu. She blinked when Cynthia finally stopped. She glanced around. No one seemed to be in the area, which only meant that they would underestimate her on the first day of classes, which was good. It seemed to be a rock battlefield, which was even better.

Cynthia set up on one side of the battlefield and Miharu set up on the other.

“How many Pokémon? Five?” asked Cynthia.

Miharu shook her head. “Can’t; left one of my Pokémon in one of the areas so they could relax.”

“Not even a hint as to which Pokémon?” Cynthia asked, pouting.

Miharu smirked. “Nope!” she stated, making the ‘p’ pop.

“Our regular rules?” asked Cynthia.

“Yep!” she stated, once again making the ‘p’ pop.

Cynthia grabbed one of her pokéballs. “At the same time, alright?”

Miharu nodded and grabbed a corresponding pokéball. If she was right… “Alright.”

“Three,” started Cynthia.

“Two,” continued Miharu.

“One,” they said together.

They both threw their pokéballs and released their Pokémon. Miharu had sent out Nari while Cynthia sent out Togekiss.

“Nari, Thunder Wave!” said Miharu.

Nari jumped on the rocks, becoming a fast paced blur. With the rocks blocking Nari from view at some points and the speed that Nari was going, it was hard for Cynthia and Togekiss to catch up to where Nari was going. Before either Cynthia or Togekiss could react, Nari sped below Togekiss and let loose a Thunder Wave. Paralyzed, Togekiss landed on the now empty space.

Cynthia frowned. “Togekiss, Aura Sphere!”

Togekiss, despite being paralyzed, was able to create a light blue sphere. Togekiss sent the unavoidable sphere towards the still speeding Nari.

“Thunder,” said Miharu.

Nari turned around and sent a strong electrical current at the Aura Sphere. The two attacks cancelled out and there was a small explosion.

“Thunderbolt,” said Miharu.

In an instant, Nari appeared behind Togekiss and let out another strong electrical current, but not as strong as the second one. Togekiss, who was still paralyzed, took the full brunt of the attack.

Cynthia tched. “Togekiss, use Psychic!”

“Nari, speed up,” said Miharu.

Togekiss’s eyes turned blue as the normal and flying type tried to trap Nari in Psychic; however, Nari was moving too fast for Togekiss to get a hold of her.

Cynthia changed gears. “Togekiss, multi-Aura Spheres!”

“Use Thunderbolt before they can counter,” said Miharu.

Nari, using one of the surrounding rocks, pushed from the rock and, using the velocity, landed on Togekiss and shocking it with a Thunderbolt before Togekiss could finish creating even one of the Aura Spheres. Still hurt from the Thunderbolt before, Togekiss fainted. Nari, seeing that her opponent was unable to continue, jumped from on top of Togekiss to in front of Miharu. Cynthia recalled Togekiss. “You did great,” said Cynthia to the pokéball.

Suddenly, Nari collapsed. Miharu sighed and returned the now fainted Jolteon. “Toxic,” she stated. “When Nari was running around, you had Togekiss put Toxic on the ground where, if you were lucky, Nari would step in and get poisoned.”

Cynthia smiled. “Very good.”

Miharu scowled. “What are you talking about: ‘I’m not going to get any stronger battling beginners’! Jeez, I feel like your Pokémon raised twenty levels from when we last battled.”

Miharu raised an eyebrow. “Me, battle Red?” Everyone had heard of the famous Red who stood on the summit of Mt. Silver, waiting for strong trainers to battle. “I may have seen him once or twice, but I’m not at the level where I could battle Red and defeat even one of his Pokémon. Jeez, talking about uber, what about his Pokémon?”

Lucario became a blur as he sped up and battered Akuma with his fists. Akuma tried to counter with a Fire Punch, but Lucario had already sped away.

“Akuma, Earthquake,” said Miharu.

Akuma slammed his fists into the ground, sending off tremendous tremors. Lucario and Cynthia’s feet were left unsteady as they had not been prepared for the attack.

“While they’re off balance, use Flare Blitz,” said Miharu.

Akuma roared as he was engulfed in strong flames. While Lucario still didn’t have balance, Akuma charged at Lucario and hit him head-on with a Flare Blitz. Lucario roared in pain as the powerful super-effective move hit.

“Lucario—” “Akuma—” “—Bone Rush!” “—Fire Punch!”

Despite the pain, Lucario formed a bone in his hand while Akuma gathered fire into his fists. As Lucario hit Akuma with the Bone Rush, Akuma had landed a blow of Fire Punch into Lucario’s abdomen. Both of them flew back to their trainers and landed heavily on their feet. Both of them looked ready to pass out. Miharu and Cynthia, knowing that one of them was about to faint, waited. Finally, both of them toppled over.

Cynthia sighed, recalling Lucario. “You did great on handling that Flare Blitz,” said Cynthia.

Miharu smiled, recalling Akuma. “You did very well.”

“The first will be your win as Nari only fainted after Togekiss had been recalled and, obviously, the second one is a tie,” Cynthia concluded. “Since we have an even number of Pokémon, that means that if I win the next two battles, I’ll win and if you win one more battle, you’ll have won.”

Miharu sighed. “I guess I’ll have to win another one, eh?”

Cynthia smirked. “Not today.” She grabbed one of her pokéballs while Miharu, after pausing for a few moments, grabbed her master ball. Her master ball was a strange one; it had tape all over the front of the pokéball. Cynthia chuckled.

“Nightmare? Well, wouldn’t this be a fun battle?”

“I’m just worried what he’d do after I send him out,” admitted Miharu.

“Three…”

“Two…”

“One…”

Cynthia let out her Eelektross while Miharu sent out Nightmare. Immediately after being sent out, Nightmare turned towards Miharu and aimed a Sludge Bomb at her. Miharu dodged the incoming attack and sighed.

“What the hell was that?” asked Nightmare. “I’ve been taped in that pokéball for a few hours now! I’ve been bored!”

“Don’t make multiple Gyarados angry at us then,” replied Miharu in turn. “Jeez, we probably had to electrocute the whole ocean before being able to get away from them!”

“Hey, all I did was throw a beer bottle in the ocean!” argued Nightmare. “How’d I know that it was going to hit a slumbering Gyarados!”

“You were littering?” Miharu was dumbfounded. “Do you know how many Pokémon die every day because of trash that has been swept into the ocean?”

“I am so going to ground you after this battle,” vowed Miharu. “No beer, no stealing, no buying stuff, just staying in your pokéball. How’d you like me now?”

“Fiend!” exclaimed Nightmare. “What makes you think I will bow down to your rules?”

“Four against one Pokémon?” Miharu wondered out loud. “I think that even for a Pokémon as strong as Nightmare that would be hard to beat.”

“Hah, I beat a Mew!” bragged Nightmare. “Your Pokémon will be no match for me!”

“How can you not raise up twenty levels beating a Mew?” interjected Cynthia. While her Eelektross had been sweat-dropping (this was her first time seeing Miharu), Cynthia had been watching on with amusement. Miharu and Nightmare’s fights were always entertaining to see.

Miharu and Nightmare looked at each other, then at Cynthia.

“Hm, you have a point,” said Miharu. “But, then again, I wouldn’t be able to teach at the PTA.”

“…What do you mean?” asked Cynthia.

“On the teacher form thingy, it said that our Pokémon had to be, at the most, at level fifty,” said Miharu.

Cynthia raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t have to have my Pokémon at that level.”

“Well, he’s not really using Taunt,” said Miharu dryly. “He’s just that naturally annoying, as you know.”

“Doesn’t mean that my advice isn’t valid,” replied Cynthia.

Nightmare appeared out of the ceiling and sent a Sludge Bomb at Eelektross. Eelektross dodged and sent a Thunder towards Nightmare. Nightmare immediately ducked back into the ceiling and the Thunder ended up breaking a hole in the roof.

Cynthia sighed. “There goes part of my paycheck.”

“Sucks to be you,” commented Miharu.

“I’m going to make you help pay,” replied Cynthia in return.

Miharu sighed. “Nightmare, Dark Pulse.”

Nightmare appeared from below Eelektross and sent a Dark Pulse at Eelektross; however, Eelektross was ready for him and, while dodging, sent a Thunder in his direction. Half into the floor and half not, Nightmare was shocked by the Thunder.

“Ow,” was his intelligent reply before fainting.

Miharu recalled Nightmare and put all of the tape back on. “I know I shouldn’t be cheering when one of my Pokémon has been defeated, but yes! Finally! He was really getting annoying.”

Cynthia recalled Eelektross. “Good job.”

Miharu smiled at Cynthia. “Thanks for that.”

“You won’t be saying thanks when I defeat you next and win,” said Cynthia.

“Come at me, bro!” exclaimed Miharu.

Each of them grabbed their pokéballs.

“Three…”

“Two…”

“One…”

Miharu sent out Bishamon and Cynthia sent out her Garchomp. Miharu whistled. “Man, this is going to be a hard battle. Bishamon, let’s bring out all of the stops.”

“Yes, master,” said Bishamon.

Cynthia sighed. “Garchomp, they’re going to be talking telepathically, so be on your guard.”

Garchomp nodded.

“Bishamon, use Leaf Blade,” said Miharu telepathically.

Bishamon nodded and ran towards Garchomp. As speedy as he was, Garchomp was faster. Garchomp jumped over the speeding Bishamon, but Bishamon turned around and landed the blow on Garchomp.

“Garchomp, counter with Shadow Claw,” said Cynthia.

“Use Psychic to stop Garchomp,” said Miharu.

As Garchomp was about to slash at Bishamon, Bishamon’s eyes glowed blue as he made Garchomp stop.

“Send her flying,” said Miharu.

Bishamon, using all of his psychic might, pushed Garchomp into one of the surrounding rocks.

“Garchomp, try to break free from that Psychic,” commanded Cynthia.

Garchomp struggled under the invisible bonds.

“Keep her in place and use Night Slash,” said Miharu.

Bishamon, eyes still blue charged up a Night Slash. Walking, as he needed to use all of his concentration to keep up the hold and to keep the Night Slash powered up, he moved towards the still struggling Garchomp. Just as Bishamon was about to slash Garchomp, she broke free from his hold and used Shadow Claw. Bishamon took the hit but had still landed the Night Slash on Garchomp. Both of the Pokémon were sent flying into the rocks. After landing heavily, both Garchomp and Bishamon stood up, ready to continue. Despite the fact that Bishamon had landed quite a few attacks, Garchomp still looked fresh while Bishamon looked exhausted. Miharu bit her lip. At the rate the battle was going, she knew that she was going to lose.

“Garchomp, use Earthquake!” commanded Cynthia.

“Jump!” exclaimed Miharu.

As Garchomp stomped on the ground to create an earthquake, Bishamon jumped into the air and managed to hold himself up using his psychic powers.

“Garchomp, Dragon Claw,” said Cynthia.

Garchomp, faster than Bishamon and Miharu could react, appeared in front of Bishamon and landed a Dragon Claw, forcing Bishamon to land on the ground. When Bishamon hit the ground, it caused a huge crater. When the smoke cleared, Bishamon was in the crater, fainted. Miharu sighed and recalled Bishamon.

“You were amazing,” she said.

Garchomp landed gently next to the crater. Cynthia recalled her Garchomp. “Nice battle.”

Miharu smiled at Cynthia. “That battle was great! But…what do we do about the hole in the ceiling and the ground?”

Cynthia shrugged. “Nice try on the battle, though,” said Cynthia. “You are better than the students.”

“I would hope so,” commented Miharu. “After all, I am going to be a teacher.”

Cynthia smiled. “Just don’t get too crazy, okay?”

“Shouldn't you be warning Nightmare not me?” asked Miharu dryly.

Cynthia paused. “Eh, Nightmare doesn’t listen to me.”

“He doesn’t listen to anyone,” replied Miharu.

Cynthia and Miharu walked into the center of the battlefield and shook hands. Miharu stretched.

“I’m starving,” she said. “Want to grab a bite to eat?”

“Sure,” said Cynthia.

Together, they walked off to the cafeteria, ignoring the ruined battleground behind them.

((OOC: This is exactly 2,624 words according to MS. xD))

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"I want to become the SHINee that will exist in your hearts and be remembered forever." - Leader Onew